Responsable de Projet RSE - ESG

The role sits under the group's Direction and owns the structuring, steering and monitoring of the ESG approach across Patriarche. Day to day, that means translating broad orientations into operational action plans, tracking indicators, and keeping the picture clear for leadership. A substantial share of the work is regulatory watch: following French and European developments in environment, social responsibility and governance, working out what they imply for the group, and drafting recommendations. Consolidating and checking non financial data, maintaining dashboards, and contributing to the annual sustainability report are core recurring tasks. On the project side, the position leads cross functional ESG initiatives in coordination with internal stakeholders, watching deadlines, resources and deliverables, and identifying where plans need adjusting. Because Patriarche spans several entities and offices, the person also helps embed ESG criteria into existing activities and processes rather than running a parallel programme. Reporting is not a side activity here: it is central, with responsibility for defining and analysing indicators and for producing both regulatory and voluntary reports. Finally, there is a strong mobilisation dimension. The role is expected to build a collaborative dynamic around ESG internally, to raise awareness and support colleagues as they take on the approach, and to handle exchanges with partners, clients, evaluation bodies and certifiers. In short, it combines analysis, project coordination, reporting and internal animation, which explains why the posting emphasises autonomy and the ability to bring varied profiles together.

The first area of learning is regulatory watch. Following French and European developments in environmental and social responsibility matters, assessing their implications and turning them into recommendations is a structured way to build expertise that is in demand across sectors. Building the group reporting cycle, including the annual sustainability report, is a second: you learn how non financial data is defined, collected, verified and narrated, and how it is read by external evaluators such as EcoVadis and by clients. Because the role is transversal, the candidate will also develop project coordination skills in a multi entity organisation, learning how to align architects, engineers, support functions and leadership around shared deadlines. The international dimension of Patriarche, with offices in several countries, likely offers exposure to different local ESG contexts and to professional English in practice, even if the working language stays mainly French. The position also provides a natural grounding in the construction and building sector's own sustainability agenda, from energy performance to responsible materials and building use. Even without prior sector experience, someone entering from another field can expect to acquire this literacy quickly, since the tendencies of an architecture practice are directly tied to the environmental footprint of what it designs. Taken together, these elements build a profile well suited to taking on a broader ESG leadership role later.

The posting asks for a Bac+5 in sustainable development, CSR, ESG or QSE, plus at least five years steering CSR or ESG programmes and cross functional projects. Beyond the diploma, what matters is demonstrated ownership of a method: drafting action plans, following up deadlines and deliverables, and turning broad ESG orientations into concrete steps that teams can execute. Someone who has already run an extra financial reporting cycle, from data collection through consolidation to publication, is likely to be closest to what the role needs. On the tools side, comfort with Excel and Power BI is expected, as is familiarity with collaborative platforms such as Teams and SharePoint. Experience with ESG frameworks and platforms such as EcoVadis or equivalent is noted as appreciated, which suggests the group is already answering or intends to answer rating questionnaires. Solid French writing is essential and professional English is required, probably to work with international offices. A background in architecture, engineering or construction is an advantage rather than a requirement. The behavioural profile is fairly clear: autonomous, rigorous, organised, and able to federate varied counterparts. This last point should not be underestimated, because a transversal role in a large practice relies on influence rather than authority. A good listener who can hold deadlines while keeping contributors on board will fit better than a pure analyst who works alone.

Apply with a CV and a cover letter in French that name the ESG frameworks and reporting standards you have actually used, for instance CSRD, ESRS, GRI or EcoVadis style questionnaires. The role has a strong writing and consolidation component, so the quality of your written French will be judged from the first paragraph. If you have worked in architecture, engineering, construction or another project based sector, say so early; the posting lists it as an advantage, and it can separate you from a purely functions focused background. Before an interview, look at how Patriarche presents its own impact and its augmented architecture model. Prepare one concrete example of a cross functional ESG project you ran from diagnostic to indicators, and be ready to explain who you had to convince and how you measured progress. The need to bring varied internal profiles on board is explicit, so a story about mobilising people outside your direct line of authority will speak directly to the job. Anticipate questions on how you build and secure non financial data, since consolidating and checking figures from many internal sources is central. If you have used Excel or Power BI to track KPIs, bring a redacted sample of a dashboard. Finally, mention what you know about French extra financial regulation and any European reporting changes on the horizon, showing that your watch on norms is active.

The focus will first be on the group's own ESG governance and performance. That includes the environmental side of an architecture practice, where energy, carbon and resource choices in design and operations are the material questions, alongside social matters such as working conditions, well being and inclusion, and governance topics like ethics and compliance. The posting's emphasis on regulatory watch suggests a significant part of the attention goes to aligning the group with evolving French and European requirements on non financial reporting. Measuring and publishing is clearly a priority. Better structured indicators, reliable extra financial data and an annual sustainability report indicate that Patriarche wants a defensible account of its impact, both for internal steering and for external readers. The mention of evaluation platforms such as EcoVadis or equivalent points to client and tender driven scrutiny, common in architecture and construction, where sustainability credentials increasingly influence selection. Beyond compliance, the role touches how sustainability enters the work itself. Patriarche frames its model around responsible, long term solutions, and integrating ESG into processes and activities is an explicit mission. That could mean helping project teams apply environmental criteria in design decisions, engaging clients on shared objectives, and making sustainability a visible part of how the group positions itself. The role is less about a single green project than about making the whole practice more accountable.

The central difficulty lies in the transversal nature of the role. A project leader in ESG rarely has direct authority over the teams whose data and cooperation they need, whether in design, operations or support functions. Getting inputs on time, in usable quality, from colleagues who have their own deadlines is a constant effort, and the phrase about federating varied counterparts in the posting points to this reality. Patience and clear routines will matter more than formal power. A second challenge is the maturity of the data. Non financial indicators in a large architecture and engineering group are often scattered, sometimes manual, and not always consistent between entities and countries. Consolidating and checking them for a published report takes repetition and scepticism. Deadlines imposed by reporting cycles and by external questionnaires do not wait for internal calendars, so a good part of the role is calendar management as much as analysis. Regulatory movement adds uncertainty. Norms on extra financial reporting are changing, and a group operating in several jurisdictions may face layered requirements. The role has to keep the group ahead of these shifts without overloading teams. A final tension is visibility: ESG success is partly collective and hard to attribute, so the candidate should be comfortable with a role whose results are shared and whose value shows up over reporting cycles rather than week to week.

A typical day mixes analysis, coordination and communication. Mornings often go to data work: updating indicator tables, checking figures received from different teams, or refining a dashboard before it goes to the Direction. Because reporting deadlines structure much of the calendar, there are periods where collecting and verifying extra financial data takes most of the time. On quieter days, the same hours may be spent on regulatory watch, reading updates and judging whether they require action. Meetings are frequent and varied. There could be a working session with an internal team implementing an ESG action, a short exchange with finance or HR to close a data point, and a progress review on a cross functional project. The role is transversal by design, so a fair share of time goes to following up with people rather than doing everything alone, and to adjusting plans when deadlines slip or priorities shift. Away from the numbers, the position also has a relational side: awareness sessions, presentations to colleagues or leadership, and exchanges with external partners, evaluators or certifiers. The rhythm varies with the reporting cycle, with intensive phases around annual publication and calmer stretches for structuring and improvement work. Variety is the norm rather than the exception.

This is a coordination post with group visibility and a reporting line to senior management, which tends to give its holder a clear view of how an international architecture practice is run. From here, plausible next steps inside Patriarche include taking wider responsibility for the entire ESG strategy, moving into a quality, safety and environment leadership role, or taking charge of a specific pillar such as carbon, governance or social impact at group level. Because the group has several entities and offices, the exposure to different national contexts can widen a profile that starts as France centred. The reporting cycle itself is a development engine. Producing a sustainability report under scrutiny from evaluators and auditors builds expertise that is portable to almost any sector, and a well handled first cycle often turns into ownership of the second with more scope. On the softer side, learning to animate a distributed network of internal contributors is a skill that directly prepares someone for management. The limit to weigh is size. In a group of this scale, ESG sits alongside quality and prevention functions, so the role may stay advisory for a while rather than operational. A candidate who wants full budget authority over sustainability projects might find the path slower, whereas someone who values cross group influence and method building will find room to grow.

Internally, the most frequent counterpart is the Direction, to whom the position reports, which means regular exchanges on priorities, arbitration and the presentation of results. Working level contacts are likely spread across the group's entities and disciplines: design teams, engineering and project staff, and support functions such as finance, HR and communications, all of whom supply data or carry out actions. Coordinating the report also means dealing with those who keep the numbers and those who write about them. Externally, the posting mentions partners, clients, evaluation bodies and certifiers. In practice this could include responding to client questionnaires and sustainability requirements in tenders, an increasingly common demand in architecture and construction, as well as managing submissions to platforms such as EcoVadis and answering auditors or rating agencies. Communication with these parties is largely formal and evidence based. A third, less visible group is the wider employee base. Awareness sessions, guidance on how to adopt the CSR approach in daily work, and the general animation of the internal community are part of the role. Those interactions are less scripted and more relational. Over time, the ability to move between a precise reporting conversation with a certifier and an accessible explanation for a studio team is likely to define how effective the position holder is.